Posts Tagged ‘forceps’

This weekend, a story came to my attention that left me emotionally devastated. You can read the story in its entirety here. The story highlights the birth of baby Olivia, who, following a rather tumultuous attempt at a vaginal delivery, was delivered via forceps. Because of forceps’ placement and doctor’s skill, or lack thereof, Baby Olivia’s skull and spine were broken, leaving her on life support for 5 days before she passed away. Reading this story, I can only imagine the horror and anguishthat this family feels. I can only imagine that the mother, whose body must be broken and battered from a botched forceps delivery, and whose daughter is lost to her, now has to cope with both physical and undeniable emotional pain. I can only imagine how the father, who witnessed the botched delivery, and lost his little one, will live with that emotional anguish.

I can only imagine, and reflect, on my own experience with forceps delivery. Like the mother in this sad story, c-section was pushed to the back burner. Olivia’s mother, in fact, asked for a c-section, prior to admittance to the hospital, and was told that “she’d be left with a scar.” After 3 hours of pushing, I too was told that a c-section would leave me with more physical baggage then a forceps delivery. I think, too often, that people underestimate the very real dangers of forceps delivery…in part because we are not warned of the horrors of such a delivery. I have yet to read a story of, “my wonderful forceps delivery.” I have yet to meet a woman, who delivered via forceps, with a glowing review to such a delivery.

Like Olivia’s parents, I maintain that forceps deliveries should be banned. My thoughts are, if you get to the point in a vaginal delivery where your body is just not ready/responding, then go for the c-section. In fact, my thoughts are, if you need any sort of intervention, including induction, you may as well go for the c-section. Although my thoughts may be unpopular, they are rooted in my own experiences, and in the experiences that I hear about from others who struggle on a daily basis with birth trauma.

Click. Click. Click. The noise of two pieces of metal coming together. The sound of a fork scraping a plate at dinner, keys jangling, money jingling. The sound that could instantly put me in a tailspin, a panic, a mind shattering experience when my PTSD was in full force. The sound of forceps. The sound of trauma.

The sound of metal. The sight of forceps-like things…salad tongs, cooking utensils. The sight and the sounds, in combination, left me in the fetal position on the kitchen floor, holding my ears in a booth at a fancy restaurant, in tears at a guest’s house for dinner.

These reactions were not pretty. PTSD is not manageable without treatment. My treatment for PTSD, although long and arduous, was successful. But, I still cannot believe what I did this week. What I COULD do, and what I DID do. I did a Google search on “forceps deliveries.” I clicked on videos. And I watched. With the volume up, and the picture large, I watched a forceps delivery. And I almost puked. NOT because of any remnants of the PTSD, but simply because of the barbaric nature of this form of delivery. I watched as the forceps were placed, placing an instrument that is much too big for the vagina, and will more than likely tear the vagina, in the vagina. I watched the doctor use some other medical device to further expand the vaginal opening by slicing the flesh around the vagina. I watched the doctor apply an extreme amount of traction to pull a baby from a mother’s unwilling body. I heard the mother moaning and screaming. I heard the click.

And, I think to myself. My cesarean section was a piece of cake compared to the butchery of a forceps delivery. The elective cesarean section, the “major surgery” that I had ,was controlled, defined, and calm. Each “click” was accounted for, each slice meaningful, each stitch done with the precision of a skilled doctor in a controlled environment. It will always baffle me WHY forceps are used in a non-emergency vaginal delivery. Although it baffles me, it apparently does not baffle the birthing community. It seems many women still view a forceps assisted “natural” vaginal birth as a better option than a cesarean delivery. The idea of women being stigmatized when considering their options between forceps and cesarean at the moment their delivery may deem necessary sickens me. I feel that women should always have an informed choice and it is my mission to advocate for that choice.